IN GRATITUDE

From the desk of Pat Ford.

January 11, 2013

I want to note with sorrow the death, and recognize with gratitude the life, of Ralph Hadac. Dr. Hadac led the Horizons Foundation in Seattle, which provided periodic grants to Save Our wild Salmon since 2001. He died last week.

I did not know Dr. Hadac well, but I much enjoyed our occasional meetings at his office on Madison Street. He had a quiet skeptical interrogative manner, which I saw was his effective way of finding out if I knew what I was talking about. His questions were short and on point. It was always clear he had read my grant proposal closely. He did not talk much, he listened and evaluated. Once decisions were made, Horizons’ delivery of the news and, if the news was yes, funds and reporting requirements, was quick and efficient. I am sure he had a hand in that.

I intuit more than know from his words, but I know I am right, that he cared deeply for what SOS and other conservation-based groups seek to accomplish. He was not intimidated by big enterprises with high degree of difficulty and long time horizons. Which likely means that he relished them.

I am sorry to lose him as a partner for our work and for conservation in Washington State. I offer my condolences to Lucy, and Steve (whom I do not know) and my gratitude to them and, across the horizon, to Ralph.

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